Posts Tagged ‘bags’

Sleep time can be used to make our puffy eyes better. Or how you’re sleeping can actually be making it worse! There are two ways that can majorly improve your under-eye area and wake up actually looking rested. Here’s how:

TRICK #1: Prop your head, neck and shoulders up with an extra pillow. If you lie flat, you’re not doing yourself any favors. But if you prop your head, neck and shoulders up a little by using two pillows instead of one, it will help with lymphatic drainage, fighting the tendency for things to get puffy. Worth it in my book! If you don’t own two pillows and don’t want to spend anything, you can fold your pillow in half. If you’re a side sleeper like I am naturally, try to break the habit. It helped me to prop another pillow under my knees in the beginning. Apparently it takes two weeks to break a habit, so work at it for a couple weeks and see how you do. I can’t say there aren’t mornings that I don’t wake up on my side but that’s something beyond my control so I let it go!

TRICK # 2: This is for when we have a big day coming up and we really want to look our best! With your head propped up AND your under-eyes equipped with an eye mask or loaded up with eye gel, you’re doubly combating the issue and will be ecstatic with the results.

I’ve created tutorials on concealing dark circles, disguising bags and highlighting, but now let’s focus on bringing everyone’s attention to your eyes with this technique that brightens, highlights, conceals and illuminates! It’s quick and easy to do and only involves two products that you probably already have. Here’s how:

TOOLS:

Your Favorite Concealer: Choose one that is a half shade lighter than your foundation shade. I used Bobbi Brown Face Touch Up Stick because it’s intense enough to apply a thin layer so it won’t crease.

You don’t have to follow the order I chose but I like to start with the inside corner and apply the concealer with a concealer brush or your finger. As we get older, the sides of the nose get darker and more indented/shadowed, so please never skip brightening there! Then continue from there along the undereye as mapped out above.

Switch to the highlighter pen and make dots in the area shown above (above your cheekbone along the eye socket).

Switch back to the concealer stick and apply it directly from the tube or with a concealer brush under the brow wing.

Switch back to the highlighter pen and make dots above the brow as shown above.

5. Blend with your finger or an egg-shaped sponge.

6. Blend by tapping your ring finger along the dots and snapping them against your thumb in between taps to wipe away some of the excess.

This tutorial is for all of us who’ve had to pull an all-nighter, especially our readers who are mothers barely getting any sleep with new babies! There are mornings when we look in the mirror and think to ourselves “who is that?!” From dark circles and bags under our eyes to puffy faces and dry cracked lips… we feel like we need a miracle yet we don’t have much time to dedicate to it. Luckily, cosmetic companies have made these lovely weapons to erase the damage and help us feel like ourselves again!

Tinted Moisturizer/Foundation/BB Cream — I used MAKE UP FOR EVER Face & Body Liquid Makeup because it’s thin enough to not feel like you’re wearing anything or look like you’re wearing makeup but still gives good coverage (and waterproof). If you’re on the hunt for a new foundation, you’ll love this one. Or you can use your favorite tinted moisturizer or BB cream.

Egg-shaped Sponge — As you can see by three years of my makeup tutorials, you know I’m obsessed with the Beauty Blender sponge. Make sure to dampen it with water first so it grows substantially then squeeze out the excess water with a towel.

Start by placing an eye gel pad under each eye. This will dramatically decrease any puffiness and “bags”.

Grab the electric lip scrubber and move it back and forth in circular motions all over the upper and lower lip area. If you don’t have an electric scrubber, grab a disposable mascara wand and lip balm and scrub in circular motions. Both techniques will bring life, circulation and color back to the lips!

Do a quick once-over of tinted moisturizer/foundation/BB cream and a dampened sponge. For a refresher on how to use a makeup sponge, click here.

Tackle the undereye dark circles with the concealer.

Highlight the eye area by tapping the highlighter just above each cheekbone. This step does wonders to wake up the face so don’t skip it!

Smile in the mirror and stipple the cream blush on the top half of the apples with the blush brush. Continue along the cheekbone and dab the tiny remainder on the brush above the brows. (Revisit the Blush Balancer Tutorial to see why).

Wake up the eyes even more with a pinch of the lash curler. Don’t forget to invert it while your pinching it!

Add a couple coats of volumizing mascara to define the lashes.

Finish with the lip stain so you don’t have to think about it for hours!

And for all the new moms out there, I’ll let you in on a little secret… you can actually get your baby to sleep through the night way sooner than you think! My sister and I just launched a new blog, The Practically Perfect Baby, a parenting movement that creates a happy babyhood with easy-to-follow schedules, self-soothing sleep-training techniques and empowering tips and tricks! It’s been a labor of love (pun intended!) and I hope you’ll share it with all of your expecting friends! Because when your baby sleeps, you sleep… and everyone gets their daily dose of pretty (and sanity)!

There aren’t many (non-surgical) options for really bad undereye bags… but there are a few things we can do take the puffiness down so we’re a little less self-conscious! Some of the more obvious remedies are to get as much sleep as you can, drink lots of water throughout the day and lower or limit (eek!) your salt intake. Experts say to lower your caffeine intake as well because it can be bloating. But if you have a life and like to enjoy it, try this quick fix using milk! Why milk? Because the lactic acid in milk assists in lowering puffiness and even helps with dark circles. (more…)